Wednesday, July 16, 2014

What's Up Wednesday - Building An Extra Heavy Gel Textured Background

Hi Paper Wings fans! Dana here today sharing a layout that I created with the July Tea Time Nesting Components Kit. This kit contains a small tub of Golden Extra Heavy Gel which is excellent for holding peaks. Extra Heavy Gel also dries clear so I was able to create a super cool textured background with color both below and on top of the gel for a fantastic effect.

I started with the piece of thick white cardboard that comes in the kit. This cardboard holds up beautifully to wet media and layers of embellishments.

I then used a spatula to spread a layer of Extra Heavy Gel over my background. (Note: I had a larger open tub of Extra Heavy Gloss Gel so I used that rather than the Extra Heavy Matte Gel that comes in the kit. The technique and results are the same with both gels except the Gloss Gel dries with a bit more shine.) I used a plastic comb to add the circle pattern into the gel. Once the gel was dry I spritzed the background with Lindy's Stamp Gang Mist in Brushed Nickel and Kissin' Kenickie Coral.

I wanted to add more color to my background so I used watercolor pencils to brighten up some of the circular grooves.

Here's a full shot of my project again. I immediately loved this photo on the Clip Art Sheet from the kit. It reminded me of the great diner scene from the film When Harry Met Sally, and I borrowed the line "I'll have what she's having" for the title of my layout.

I cut a portion from the stacked teacup clip art image and used that to add a pretty floral pattern to the chipboard teacup from the kit. I used the tag from my favorite flavor of tea and attached it to the tea cup to personalize the layout. The sentiment that I stamped, "tea makes everything better." is from the NEW Tea Time Cling Stamp Set, which is 25% off this month!

Here's one more look at my gel background. I hope I have inspired you to try this technique!

10 comments:

Woowzer this was an excellent tutorial. I love how you used a comb to create the circles with the Gel. Using the water color pencils on the circles remind me of those large suckers you get at the carnival. Fabulous design!